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EDUCATION: Weather Report

Written mainly for undergrads and high school students, this Web text from the University of Illinois breezes through the basics of meteorology. Concise explanations clear up topics such as how a hurricane blossoms from a tropical depression, the workings of Doppler radar, and the difference between sleet and freezing rain (freezing rain turns to ice only when it hits a frigid surface, such as a road). If you're interested in sky study, an illustrated guide can help you tell threatening cumulonimbus clouds from the smaller, stumpier cumulus clouds that portend fair weather.

Another highlight is an archive on famous storms of the past. You can watch satellite photos of Hurricane Andrew howling across Florida in 1992 or track a line of ferocious thunderstorms that pummeled Illinois in April 1996, spinning off 33 tornadoes.